Chapter Text
Los Angeles Wall of Life, Year 36 of the Kaiju War
A crowd of men and women shuffled around the scrapyard, eyes squinted against the day’s brightness. Everyone there looked tired, dirt caked into their clothes and skin. When the boss arrived, every eye in the place was trained on him. The man was large and his gut even larger, evidence of too many beers at night.
“There’s work today,” he said, “for them that want to eat.”
The already quiet worksite went still as a grave. The wind sighed, bringing with it the scent of the ocean and the oily machines already at work further along the coastal wall.
“Three folks died yesterday. Their spots are now open.” The boss grinned. “Jaeger fresh from the fight. Still covered in kaiju blue.”
Most of the crowd deflated, almost imperceptibly. One man chewed his lip, thinking, while another turned and left outright. The blue kaiju blood was highly toxic, and protective gear was in short supply.
“Who wants to work?” The boss growled. “Who wants to eat today?”
A hand shot into the air, barely visible above the crowd. People standing nearby stepped to the side, revealing a small girl. She was slim and wiry, a teenager who set her jaw and looked the boss dead in the eye. She stretched her hand an inch higher into the air.
His eyes narrowed, but the boss pulled out a red work pass. “Name, girl?”
The girl adjusted her backpack over her shoulders and stepped forward, the hand that was up in the air now extended in front of her, waiting for the pass.
“Rey Niima,” she said.
#
No one climbed as high as Rey did on the wrecked jaegers, and no one seemed to enjoy it more. After clipping her safety strap to the plate she worked on, the girl stood and looked out over the ocean for a moment. The wind blew through her hair as if trying to pull it out of its tight bun, and Rey squinted her eyes at the bright light reflected off the water. Eventually she sat down, pulling a safety mask she’d made herself over her face as she got to work.
This high up, there was no one to notice if pieces of scrap disappeared into Rey’s backpack. The bosses wouldn’t go this high, and the other workers were too busy minding their feet. Rey worked quickly, snatching pieces without looking as she took the jaeger apart. When she’d finished stripping a section she unclipped, swung around the side of the mech to a new section, and slid down to the next spot that needed work.
The day passed quickly this way until the bell rang at five, signaling to the workers to get in line for their rations. Rey was one of the last there, the trade-off for working so high up, but her tray was loaded with a double portion of stew and an extra roll of bread.
One of the other workers, a wide man about her height, blocked her path to the meal tables. He glared, bloodshot eyes flicking from her face to the food.
“Some of us didn’t eat today, girl,” he said. “You should share.”
“Then volunteer for the hard work then, if you’re so hungry,” Rey replied.
Sneering, the man leaned forward to snatch the bread from her tray. She waited until the last second, then dodged to the side. Stepping smoothly around him, food in one hand, Rey elbowed him in the back with her free arm. Her opponent went sprawling into the dirt. By the time he got back up, Rey had already found a seat and begun wolfing down her stew. The man slunk off, defeated.
Even eating, she kept a sharp watch, eyes glancing back and forth. Halfway through her stew, she spotted two children at the edge of the meal tent, their eyes hopeful. Rey slowed, chewing on a piece of potato. She glanced down at what remained of her stew and bread, then back at the children. Sighing, Rey stood up and walked toward the children, shoving the meal tray in their hands before stomping off.
“Thank you!” One of them cried. Rey didn’t turn, but she did walk a little more lightly.
Didn’t need all of that today, anyway, she thought. I’ve got a project to finish.
#
A mile away from the Wall of Life and the jaeger junkyard were several abandoned factories. When the kaiju had come and insurance for beachfront property had skyrocketed, companies had picked up and left. The families who couldn’t afford to move took shelter in the old buildings. As for herself, Rey had found a large maintenance building, two stories high. She’d hacked the security systems and made her home there, a secure bunker for her to tinker in.
She pressed a hand to the door pad, waiting for the thunk of the locks before swinging the door open. The overhead lights flickered on as she walked in, as well as a beat-up, patched-together television in the corner.
“And in today’s news, it’s been five years since the Jaeger Program began its downward spiral, starting with the loss of Millennium Falcon. That trend continues today with the loss of Rogue Shadow, which was destroyed in battle with the kaiju codenamed ‘Dark Assassin’ in Manila. Both pilots, Galen Marek and Juno Eclipse, were killed. Our thoughts and prayers go to their families, but one question remains: Are the Jaegers still worth the cost?”
The television prattled on as Rey walked into what had once been the garage for car repair and now contained what appeared to be a large hunk of metal. Upon closer inspection, however, the humanoid frame stood out. The disparate pieces of metal had been put together with no concern for aesthetics, but purely for function. Rey set her backpack on the ground and gazed fondly at the machine.
“Just about ready,” she said to it. “Another night of work, and you’ll be a real jaeger.”
It had taken years to scrounge for every piece of metal, let alone the advanced wiring and circuitry she’d needed. But the scrapyard was the one used by the local Shatterdome, and every time a Jaeger was broken, pieces of it ended up there. By her calculations, her jaeger was made from pieces of ten others.
As Rey pulled on her goggles and welding torch, she blocked out the rest of the world. Just a few more pieces. Just a few more, and she’d have a Jaeger. She could fight.
Sparks flew, and the TV droned on.
“...sought an interview with Skywalker, he refused to comment. Luke Skywalker is expected to visit the Los Angeles Wall of Life this week to assess the project’s viability going forward. Up next, we discuss the hottest new inland vacation spots...”
#
“Okay, final checks,” Rey said, leaning forward in the cockpit. There were wires everywhere; from the control panels, from the bike helmet on her head, from the control pads on her hands and feet. Nothing matched and one alert kept blinking no matter what she did, despite everything working. The mech had been plugged in for hours to power up, sucking electricity from the local grid like a vampire.
It was perfect.
System charged flashed on the screen. Rey grinned. “Time to try walking, Scavenger.”
She took a careful step forward, rocking in the rig she’d designed like a gyroscope. Scavenger matched her movement. Rey lifted her arms, shifting in the rig enough that it swung, and she was forced to take a step back. Scavenger staggered, the motion throwing her off even more.
“Not quite what I was expecting,” Rey said. She eyed the readout on her screen. “I’ll need to adjust the sensitivity--”
“CIVILIAN! WE HAVE DETECTED UNAUTHORIZED USE OF JAEGER TECHNOLOGY IN THIS LOCATION. YOU ARE TO EXIT THE BUILDING AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP.”
Every window of the warehouse was suddenly filled with flashing red and blue light, bright against the weak gray of dawn. Rey brought up the external sensors and sure enough, several security vehicles were parked right outside.
“No no no no no...” she muttered. “I just finished building her!”
“I REPEAT, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR.”
Rey stilled. She felt heat building up in her chest, and she clenched her hands. “No,” she said, “I think not.”
#
Another car pulled up outside the warehouse, and a gentleman wearing the uniform of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps stepped out of the backseat. His hair, light brown and streaked with gray, showed his advancing years. But his blue eyes were still sharp and piercing, and as his gaze swept over the scene more than one person stood a little straighter.
“Commander Skywalker, sir,” one of the security officers stepped forward, inclining his head briefly. “We weren’t aware that you would be here.”
“PPDC comm chatter says that you’ve got an illegal jaeger in there,” Skywalker replied, nodding his head at the warehouse. “I was close by, so I couldn’t resist. Beats inspecting a damn wall, anyway.”
“THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! COME OUT NOW WITH YOUR HANDS UP!” Another security officer shouted into a megaphone while the others began to spread out, encircling the building.
“You may want to step back, sir,” said the officer closest to Skywalker. “This could get rough.”
Before Luke could respond, the front wall of the warehouse exploded.
A round mech around fifteen feet tall smashed through brick and mortar, then paused in the cloud of debris. Its two arms lifted into the sky. One of its hands looked like a shovel.
Before the security team could react, the mech threw itself forward, limbs tucking into its body to form a ball. It rolled, using one of the cars as a ramp to launch itself into the air. It flew down the block, finally landing with a crunch at the far end of the street.
“Is it down?” One of the officers asked.
The mech unfolded itself and took off running.
“I doubt it,” Skywalker replied.
#
Rey rounded another corner, heart pounding. She wasn’t sure how far she needed to go to avoid capture, but she didn’t feel safe yet. Where could she go? Where would Scavenger be safe? Maybe the junkyard? They’d blend right in with all the other jaeger pieces, and there wouldn’t be many people there this early.
Her plan set, Rey ran through the empty streets, grateful for the early hour. The junkyard was soon in sight, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Almost there...
A wall of metal slammed down in front of her, and Scavenger skidded to a halt. What the--was that a foot?
Rey’s screen lit up, and she swiped through the image, pulling up the data. It was...oh no.
One of the oldest jaegers still in service loomed over her, several times taller than Scavenger. Its dull black hull was occasionally marked with a red design familiar to jaeger groupies like herself. And if she didn’t already know it, the red viewport would have been a dead giveaway.
They’d sent First Order to capture her.
It hadn’t occurred to her that they would pull one of the jaegers from the nearby Shatterdome for this, but it made sense. Rey swallowed, her fingers twitching on the control pads.
“Get out of there now,” said a snide voice over the comms. “You will turn yourself in immediately and--hey!”
Scavenger tucked and rolled between First Order’s legs, making a beeline for the junkyard. The larger jaeger turned to pursue, but it was much slower than she was. Scavenger dove into the piles of scrap, disappearing among the junk it had been made from.
Rey burrowed deep and then started turning systems off. Maybe if they couldn’t find her energy signature on scan, she could wait them out.
The metal above her shook, and something grabbed Scavenger, lifting them out of the junk pile. First Order held her high in the air, eye to eye with its cockpit. The two pilots inside did not look pleased. Rey smiled weakly and waved. Then she pressed a button to release the coolant system.
A gush of freezing chemicals poured out from Scavenger all over First Order’s hand. Startled, the jaeger dropped her. Rey was immediately on the move, rolling between the bigger mech’s legs. Once behind it she shot two grenades, aiming each for the back joint of the jaeger’s foot. They didn’t do too much damage--jaegers were built to take more punishment than that--but as she rolled away again and First Order moved to pursue, it seemed to have a noticeable limp.
“You’re going to pay for that!” Screeched the snide pilot’s voice over the comm.
“Sorry,” Rey replied, not sorry at all, “I’m broke.”
She turned, crashing through an abandoned building as an overheating warning flashed on her display. Scavenger tumbled over the rubble, looking for a place to hide and cool down. She smashed through the other side of the building only to find First Order waiting for her.
Rey tried to turn and move again, but it was too late. A powerful blow knocked her against Scavenger’s insides. Electricity ran through the tiny jaeger, knocking out all of the systems she’d worked so hard to build. Too late, she remembered that First Order had a stunner built into one of its fists. Then she blacked out.
#
It didn’t take long before Rey was sitting in the back of a PPDC security car, hands cuffed behind her. Rey sighed and leaned her head back against the seat. First Order’s pilots were giving their report to the officers now. Soon she’d be at a juvenile corrections facility, or possibly worse. She wasn’t sure what the punishment was exactly for building a jaeger from scratch. At least they’d rolled down the back window and she could get some air.
“So. How did that feel?”
Rey jumped. An older man was leaning on the door, his face in the window. She hadn’t even heard him approach. “What?”
“How did it feel riding in a jaeger?” The man had bright blue eyes that seemed like they could read her mind.
“It felt...it was amazing. For a few minutes, anyway.” Rey narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”
“I’m a teacher,” he replied. “Did you build that thing yourself?”
“Yes. It took four years.”
“Think you could do it again?”
Rey blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Could you do it again? Building a jaeger, riding in it?”
She thought about all of the long nights that had gone into building Scavenger. The frustration over her failures, the exhilaration of success. The thrill in that brief moment she had piloted a jaeger.
“Absolutely.”
The man nodded, then turned to the officer standing behind him. “We’ll confiscate the jaeger of course,” he said. “But I think this one’s a good candidate. Take the cuffs off.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rey was pulled from the back of the car, her cuffs unlocked, and she looked at the man again. She took in the uniform, the bars on his shoulder, the slight scar on his face. “Who are you really,” she asked.
“Luke Skywalker,” he replied, “I’m in charge of the Jaeger Academy for the PPDC. We train cadets to be Rangers.”
“Wait,” Rey said, stumbling back against the car. “Luke Skywalker? The Luke Skywalker? The jaeger pilot?”
“I usually don’t put a ‘the’ in front of it, but yeah, that’s me. Look, you’ve got potential, and we need good Rangers these days, now more than ever. You interested?”
He held out his hand, and Rey looked from it to his face. He seemed sincere. Apparently, the punishment for building an illegal jaeger was getting to pilot one legally.
She took his hand and shook it.